First Day Back

Thundering out of Santa Cruz’s thriving and resurgent music scene, First Day Back spent their final years of college solidifying their place in the emo revival. Heralded as the rightful torchbearers of second-wave emo, First Day Back recall the vocal exasperation of Cap’n Jazz, the twinkle of American Football, and the youthful exuberance of Braid, all while reinventing the sound through the organic additions of violin and harmonica.

A love letter to the past, their debut and sole album, Forward, was self-released in June 2025. The album was recorded using the acoustics of the living room in their Empire Grade house, while the muted blue featured on its cover matches the outer panelling of this sentimental domicile—a place central to the band’s foundations and creative process.

“Forward enchants on first listen,” Pitchfork wrote in its 8.1 review. “First Day Back play with a transparency usually reserved for private moments: screaming into a pillow in your bedroom or putting your hoodie up to stress-cry on the bus.”

The quintet’s DIY perspective continues in their live show, which began in houses and anarchist bookstores before blossoming into sold-out tours opening for Algernon Cadwallader, Everyone Asked About You, and Jejune, where thousands of kids screamed along to every word, wax, and woo.